Research · Programme
It is our mission to advance the way teachers design blended and online courses to enhance student behaviour and success.
IET’s world-leading research programme Learning Analytics and Learning Design drives innovative best practice, supporting teachers to design blended, online courses. According to the academic citation database Web of Science, Prof Bart Rienties, Programme Lead for Learning Analytics and Learning Design, is the 6th most prolific author in learning analytics, and the foremost author in learning analytics and learning design.
IET is well published in leading international journals on how to implement learning analytics at scale, including the paper ‘Social Learning Analytics’ by Dr Rebecca Ferguson which is the 3rd most cited paper in learning analytics, as well as our large-scale evaluation on impact of 5 years of predictive learning analytics by Prof Christothea Herodotou.
Investigating, developing and establishing new ways that students can improve their engagement, satisfaction and success within learning, we collaborate together with the Learning Design team with educators across the globe to implement learning techniques which have been grounded by teachers and distance learning module designers of The Open University.
Learning Design is a methodology for teachers, course designers and educational professional to make more informed decisions in how learning activities and interventions are designed. With learning design activities educators can make pedagogically informed decisions with the ability to use new resources and technologies, reframing learning to focus on ‘what students do’ in their learning.
Technological developments have allowed for teachers and researchers to capture and understand the digital traces of learning activities in Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). The capability to capture rich data about learner behaviour enhances the insight that educators have into how their students react to different learning designs. Our recent Artificial Intelligence (AI) research has explored the impacts that different learning designs have on learners and teachers, how different learning designs can support the learner journey to create a balanced workload, and how to provide effective support for diverse groups of learners.
With our learning design, learning analytics and AI expertise spanning across two decades, and recent focus on learning analytics at-scale, this research programmes addresses four key questions:
Editorial
How universities can better support students moving through complex trajectories
New research conducted by The Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology (IET) is exploring how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can better support students moving between institutions, changing course mid-study, or changing study mode.
Editorial
New research funding aims to enhance digital readiness, resilience and capacity of Higher Education
Researchers at The Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology are working with a consortium of European partners to use innovative digital pedagogies, tools and learning design approaches to progress higher education internationally.
Editorial
Bart Rienties announced as President of SoLAR
Congratulations to IET's Professor Bart Rienties who in March 2023 was announced as the new President of the Society for Learning Analytics Research.
Editorial
OU steps-up efforts to improve student experience with innovative dashboard
An interactive dashboard at The Open University (OU) is using machine learning methods to provide tutors (Associate Lecturers) with greater visibility of student engagement and experience.
Thought leadership
Exploring participation behaviour of young citizen scientists
IET are working with Natural History Museums.
Editorial
Digital Badges and COVID-19: Enhancing assessments
The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted the need for immediate, innovative solutions to improve assessments.
Thought leadership
Ensuring research participants' voices are heard with effective data collection
Research led by IET is exploring how marginalised children, their parents and teachers, use technology to access education. Dr Saraswati Dawadi discusses how effective data collection can uncover lived experiences in under-resourced countries.
